


Rest easy

by Patatarte



Series: The CowCrew ship fest [8]
Category: The Creatures | Cow Chop RPF
Genre: Mention of Panic Attack, Multi, Nightmares, fakechop au, just boys supporting each other, mention of PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-06
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-09-12 23:40:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16881480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Patatarte/pseuds/Patatarte
Summary: James has a nightmare, good thing he is not alone.





	Rest easy

James jumps awake in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat, his heart racing, fists tight in the sheets. His mind dared to replay some awful events and he’s shaking, trying to get back to reality. Nausea makes him sit and he digs his palm in his eyes a few seconds before just looking in front of him.

The room is dark, but there’s a faint blue glow from the corner or the room. Isn’t that sad how they are criminals but can’t handle darkness ? Alright, Aleks can’t anymore, PTSD is a bitch. They’d all take a small light in the corner rather than Aleks screaming and crying because he woke up in the middle of the night in occasional terror. 

Anyways, James doesn’t think about that, he’s trying to calm himself, whimpering without really realizing it. He’s a bit lost at the moment and the light touch on his arm immediately puts him in a defensive stance. The brush of a thumb on his skin and the familiar touch ends up relaxing him enough to put his guard down again.

He hears a voice but the words are muffled by the blood pounding in his head, it’s louder than his comprehension for the moment. Yet, the intonation and calming tone grounds him back into his own body, into the bedroom, the bed, here, he’s safe.

He’s about to flop back onto the mattress but an arm gets around him and drags him slightly off his spot, to the side. His back gets flushed against a warm torso, strong, reassuring. Brett is holding him, protective, and James finally hears the words, whispers, telling him that it was just a bad dream, that he’s fine.

James sighs, pressure slowly draining completely from his body as the shaking dies down. He silently thanks the strong arms around his torso, the hand brushing his skin with such care he already is drifting back to sleep.

“I’m okay” he says, still a little breathless, lazily blinking as he can finally sees the full room bathed in the blue light, his eyes finally adapted to it.

There’s a kiss on his hair, then against his ear and lastly in the crook of his neck with a warm breath as Brett confirms that he is okay and safe here. James puts one hand on Brett’s one, keeping his mind at bay as he feels ready to sleep again.

As he looks at the room one last time, eyelids heavy, he spots a mass moving under the blanket on the side of the bed. A disheveled blond pokes his head out of it. Aleks isn’t really aware of James’ nightmare, he woke up because of the lack of warmth. 

But Aleks’ eyes are good in that dim light and he sees Brett sitting with his back against the wall, holding and shielding James. He understands even in his sleepy state and grunts as he gracelessly moves closer to them, the blankets dropping of him and leaving him bare and cold.

He grabs them angrily and nests against Brett and James in the corner of the wall, trapped in that small space. He covers them as much as he could with the thin blanket. There is a second of nothing before he seeks James’ hand, touching wherever and not caring for James’ tired complain about it.

Once his hand gets a grip on James’ ones, their fingers intertwining as Aleks finally settles, humming against Brett’s skin. Just before drifting back to sleep, Aleks brings James’ hand to his lips, kissing his knuckles gently.

They have elaborate rituals they had to slowly adapt to, but they are doing a phenomenal job at calming each other these days. They trade places depending on who needs the most sleep, can pretty much tell what the problem is when one of them wakes up in sweat in the middle of the nights. 

They learned how to take care of their wounds together.

Nobody really believe they have a functioning relationship and so well rounded mechanism at night, since they mostly just bite each other during the day.

They just have each others back, like wild animals trying to survive.

Brett is a tamed tiger, still dangerous but with control over himself. James is a bear sticking to his habits but able to go rogue in an heartbeat, Aleks is a cat not knowing if he wants to purr or scratch you, being mischievous and able to do evil if/when bored.

They can fight and yell together, but at the end of the day, they will have each others back.


End file.
